London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

The boss of Gatwick today intensified the battle with its rivals to build a new runway in the South East- and claimed that Boris Johnson’s Thames estuary airport was “sinking without trace.”

Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate also claimed a four-runway airport at Stansted - the mayor’s alternative site to the Estuary - was “undeliverable”.

Mr Wingate Told the Standard: "On Davies’ [Sir Howard Davies who is heading the Airports Commission on Britain’s aviation future] mind is that the Estuary option is dropping down the pecking order and perhaps dropping off altogether.

"Even Stansted themselves have said they couldn’t possibly deliver four runways so it’s a non deliverable option at this time. It’s looking increasingly like Heathrow versus Gatwick. There’s only demand for one extra runway and that’s all that can be afforded .

"Sir Howard will have to focus in his next piece of work between Gatwick and Heathrow. From a connectivity point of view, (Heathrow and Gatwick) would both deliver extra connectivity, but on noise pollution, air quality, cost and resilience we absolutely nail every one of those criteria. We’ve got wind in our sails and Gatwick will prevail."

But Boris Johnson hit back at critics of his £55 billion estuary airport plan.

Ahead of a tour of Hong Kong airport, Mr Johnson set out his plan for Chinese money to help fund the Norman Foster designed four-runway airport on the Isle of Grain in Kent.

It is understood that one potential backer, possibly the CIC sovereign wealth fund or the Bank of China, raised the issue with the Mayor unprompted.

Mr Johnson told the Standard: “The Chinese are following this argument with great attention at all levels and they understand completely that this is a political question for Britain but there will unquestionably be very, very strong interest to help play a part in the solution.”

He claimed the hub would support 4,200 long-haul flights a week to 205 destinations. This would include 192 flights every week to 14 destinations in China.

Mr Wingate’s view that the Southeast can only afford one new runway is not necessarily shared by The Davies commission.

Last week Sir Howard insisted a new runway must be built but said he might opt for a combination of airports when he makes his final recommendation to minister after the 2015 general election.

Next month the commission reaches an important stage when it will list a handful of possible runway sites to be studied in more detail from more than 50 submissions.

Rival airports claim major airlines - in particular those flying to emerging markets - would be reluctant to move from Heathrow to Gatwick, and last week the boss of All Nippon Airways backed a new runway in west London.

But Mr Wingate said new routes announced today showed airlines were “ voting with their feet”.

“Many different airlines take difference not positions but Norwegian are voting with their feet. In the Southeast, of 139 million passengers per year that fly to and from air airports, less than a million passengers fly to China.”

Daniel Moylan, the mayor’s aviation advisor said: “opting to deal with the aviation capacity crunch by “making do” and adding second runways at Gatwick and Stansted would result in 1,000 fewer long haul flights to 80 destinations every week, including 70 flights to 7 destinations in China.”